KelinTx

I think its an absolute necesity to enter into the process with an "I CAN DO IT ATTITUDE". If your having doubts about it i would seriously research all the weight loss surgery options available to you and decide wich one would best suit your individual needs. If eating around the band is being contemplated before even having the surgery perhaps its not the best option. As far as myself is concerned .....i knew that since i was subjecting my body to a voluntary surgery there was no way i was going to risk harming myself or my band by not following the dietary rules and guidlines.

In response to your question about having plastic surgery.........i am seriously considering going for a consult in sept (my 2yr band date) to see about having my arms done, id love to have an entire body lift but realistically the cost would be out of the question!

Everything has gone south for me! I swear even my toes are flabby. I keep hoping one day ill wake up and my stomach will be gone, seems ive lost the least from there. All in all though im a very happy camper.

I think alot of it has to do with the amount of weight you have to lose. I lost super fast in the beginning because of the large amount i needed to lose. Now that im inching closer to somewhat of a normal weight im thrilled to death if i lose a pound a week!

When the waiter at your fave restaurant automatically brings you a to go box with your meal cuz he knows you box 2/3 of it up as soon as u get it!

Has anyone else noticed the significant increase in the amount of posts from folks saying that they were just banded and they are eating things that are not normally permitted till months down the road? Im finding it increasingly difficult to bite my tongue. I just dont get it........why would anyone willingly subject themselves to a weight loss surgery and dish out a ton of money and risk the complications involved by not following the set dietary guidelines and rules??? I mean come on now lets get real here, if your throwing caution to the wind after being banded a week or so, statistically what does that say for your chances of success in the long run! Why even bother to of had a weight loss surgery if your sabotaging yourself from the get go. Had to get that off my chest.

Count me in......id love to get together with all the mckinney bandsters! I have a good many nice clothing pieces i can pass off as well!

You all are doing so great! I was glad to read a thread where there were other women that started the journey over 300 lbs like myself. I wish you great success. I also am from Mckinney by the way!

Oh yes i made sure they were aware that in no way was i going to be held financially responsible for someones error! And the situation is being taken care of without a problem.

When putting the fluid back in the band after it had been pulled out to be measured.....apparently she missed her mark and never went back in my band!

Welcome and good luck to you! You chose a great Doc!

Back in May of this year i went in for a fill (my 11th) this would put me at 10 cc in my VG band. I had some restriction before this fill but felt i was able to consume far more then i should so i just wanted a lil more to get me to the point where my hunger would subside faster. I waited days for this fill to kick in kept wondering wow i feel NO RESTRICTION at all this simply can not be. I headed back to the fill center exactly one month later and was given another SMALL fill due to the volume already in my band., this fill would have put me at 10.4 (i keep meticulous records of my fill dates, amounts and loses). Now i start to worry because i feel no restriction what so ever NONE, not even in the morning when usually i can only drink coffee very slowly. On June 6th i went to the fill center and expressed my concerns and sure enough when the technician checked my saline level I WAS EMPTY!! OMG i was freaking out...she put 3.8 back in my band and said come back in a week and we will see if this fluid level is being retained. This was the longest week of my life, i was so stressed out with worry i made my self sick. I was panick stricken at the thought of losing my band due to a complication. I LOVE MY BAND I NEED MY BAND, without my band i would be well over 400 pounds by now. So this past Friday i went back to fill center and she measured my saline and THANK GOD everything she had put in the band the week before was still there!! YAY YAY!! So in short what had happened was when my fluid was aspirated out of me at 10cc SHE MISSED PUTTING IT BACK IN!!!! Im just happy all is ok with my band and i will deal with the temporary set back in having to recoup my fills to get to proper restriction. So all you bandsters out there you know how your body feels and if you feel something isnt right by all means MAKE THEM LISTEN TO YOU!! Human error happens what can ya do! THanks for listening

Ive never had any issues with popcorn as long as i go slow and dont go overboard.

My decision to have Lap Band surgery was based on it being a minimally invasive surgery with a short recovery time. I was up and about just hours after having the procedure preformed with no significant pain to speak of. Ive been problem free the entire journey thus far! (knock on wood) Without a doubt i feel ive had the same results with Lap Band surgery as i would have with a bypass.

I was also one that would never EVER push a plate away till it was clean. This i must say is the one thing that i am totally able to do now with out feeling deprived. I will say that the FULL feeling is different then before, i dont know that its actually a FULL feeling rather then just the feeling that ive had enough and need to stop. The band has made portion control easy for me wich was my biggest issue pre-band.

I always manage to get 3 meals in. Im not easily able to eat in the am's so when i make my lunch i divide it in two and eat half as an early lunch then have the other half of it mid afternoon, dinner and most nights i have a small snack in the evening because im not one that can go to bed hungry.

I started my pre-op diet weighing 359. I was 345 on 9-13-06 the day of my operation. My first fill was on 10-24-06 my weight on that day was 316 I hit the hundred pound lost mark in July of 07. I ve been losing pretty steadily ever since but it has slowed down a great deal. As you can see the weight pretty much flew off me in the beginning.

The big number 1 would be... i can no longer binge!! 2 I can move with ease now and do not break a sweat after only a few steps. 3 I feed my shopping addiction rather then my food addiction!

I had one of the girls at the fill center i use explain it to me like this........she likened the lap band to that of a belt. As a person loses weight the belt would become loser an there fore need tightened. So as we lose weight we are losing what i guess is a fat pad around our stomach wich is making the band loser there fore lessening restriction. Seemed to make sense to me.

I used to retain a ton of water, after surgery i no longer have that problem.

Just keep up the " I CAN DO IT MIND FRAME" and im sure you will have great success! Best of luck to you!

When my one year band anniversary came and i visited my Surgeon for my yearly follow up i disscused the endoscopy with him at that time. I also had recieved a letter stating i was due to have one. I had been and have been problem free from the beginning, there for i did not see it as an absolute necessity. Of course i wanted his input on this, and with his permission i elected to forgo the procedure for the time being.

This is the one that made my jaw drop. Had a manicure appointment, new place had never been there before. Sat down to get my nails done and the first thing the lil lady says to me is...........SO YOU THINK EATING IS FUN HUH?? I was dumbfounded, what do u say to that? So of course i just smiled when inside i just wanted to die.

They gave me a gown and said take everything else off. They gave me lil footie type booties to wear. My surgery was done laying down.

Total shoe addict here, Ive gone hog wild buying all new shoes since losing weight. Its great to be back in heels and have them be comfy! I LOVE SHOES, so much that i buy a new pair every week!